Suburban Diagnostics: Setting New Benchmarks in Preventive Healthcare

Managing Director

With 33 percent of the population above 30 years of age suffering from one or more lifestyle diseases, India is emerging as the capital of lifestyle diseases, while enduring a growing population of cancer patients on the other hand. It’s hardly surprising that prior diagnosis and preventive healthcare are gradually becoming the mantra in the Indian healthcare industry.

Piloting this mission of adapting the country to the realm of preventive healthcare is Suburban Diagnostics - one of the fastest growing and technologically advanced diagnostics networks in the country, which offers holistic 360 degree diagnostic services under one roof. “We firmly believe in the mantra - Don’t do a test only when you fall ill, do a test not to fall ill,” asserts Dr. Sanjay Arora, Managing Director, Suburban Diagnostics. With a long legacy of 23 years, Suburban is one of the few diagnostic centers in India with a CAP and NABL accreditation.

Being Suburban
Incepted by Dr. Sanjay and his spouse Anju Arora (Director) in 1994 as a pathlab, Suburban over the years has built a technically sound world-class laboratory

infrastructure (sourcing equipment from global leaders like Bio-Rad Laboratories, Biomerieux, Fuji, Philips, Bosch and Siemens), capable of offering newest of the global testing trends. A couple of perfect examples being molecular diagnosis of genetic diseases (proactive diagnosis of diseases in a highly personalized way), and double multiplex PCR which provides highly accurate diagnosis of common infectious conditions like Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, and Leptospira.

Customer engagement is a herculean task in India. This is where Suburban (focused on B2C) pitches in with a unique customer-centric approach. Medical professionals constituting more than 10 percent of the total workforce, it’s not only that the ratio of number of tests vs. medical professionals is one of the highest in the industry, but also the value they bring through their interactions with customers, interpretation of results and further guidance,is immense.

Being Comprehensive
Suburban today serves over three

million customers through their 120 centres across Mumbai, Pune and Goa. Some of its laboratories are housed within partnered hospitals (like Cloudnine & Zen Multispecialty Hospital). Widening the horizon of its offerings, Suburban manifests comprehensive diagnosis in Radiology and Cardiology, alongside multifarious value added health checkups (including diet, consultation, spirometry or lung function tests, bone mineral density and many more) and corporate wellness programs(pre-health & annual checkup to help organizations maintain a healthy workforce); not to mention its home healthcare division (one of India’s largest) that performs 400 home visits daily. “We gather a huge amount of patient data, which helps sending reminders to our customers. Preserved in a highly secured infrastructure, this data will continue playing a crucial role in decision making of doctors through analytics,” adds Dr. Arora.

A Safe Future
Alongside updating itself with all the latest equipment, self-sufficiency in terms of sourcing talent plays a crucial role in Suburbans' dominance in the segment. Hence the organization has setup its own paramedical training institute - Suburban College of Paramedical Education (SCOPE), under the aegis of S. M. Arora(Chairman, Suburban Diagnostics) who recently received a Ph.D. in paramedical education, at the age of 80. Suburban believes that SCOPE, where currently 200 students are enrolled, will play a pivotal role in its further growth focused on penetrating pathology deeper, and exploring rural markets of India.